Adventures in Modern Learning

Rich Math Tasks for a UDL Classroom

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how best to design and present rich math tasks while keeping in mind students who use assistive technology. That said, with universal design in mind – I want to create something that works for those that need accessible activities but at the same time is also something all students can use.

Tips for using this file

Edit and tweak the file to suit your students (e.g., change the target amount of money, add in additional resources or a picture of an anchor chart they are used to referring to, etc.)

The slide deck is meant to be edited collaboratively by an entire class

Add it as an assignment to Google Classroom with the “students can edit file” option

Each student (or small group of students) gets their own “answer slide” – I’ve included 10 answer slides in the template but duplicate that slide to add as many as you need (or delete any extras)

to avoid confusion, you may wish to assign a particular slide number to each group so they are not accidentally editing the same slide as another group

As students are answering, they have several tools to use:

The Read&Write Chrome Extension can help students read the instructions aloud, look up definitions, etc. If they choose to use Talk&Type, know that it has to be done in the speaker notes section below the slide (you could then copy/paste it elsewhere – or just leave it in the speaker notes!).

The EquatIO Chrome Extension can help students type mathematical symbols and thinking using predictive text, handwriting recognition, speech to text, etc.

Virtual Canadian coins are included in the “grey space” to the left of the answer slides – you may have to zoom out to see them (view –> zoom). Select a coin and duplicate it (CTRL + D) to get as many as needed – which can then be dragged and dropped anywhere on the slide.

You can also try the “scribble” tool to draw on the slide

Feedback, Please!

Did you try this with your class? How did it go? Would more files like this one be useful? What could make them even more useful? I don’t have a class of my own to be my beta testers so I’m counting on your feedback!